Strategy & Digital Communications Blog

Charity Spotlight – Spinal Cord Injury Ontario

Spinal Cord Injury Ontario, SCIO, VIP4SCI

People with spinal cord injury (SCI) are at greater risk of contracting COVID-19. Spinal Cord Injury Ontario (SCIO) has pivoted to respond to the needs of the spinal cord injury community through this pandemic. 

The risks associated with COVID-19 are high for everyone. And even higher for people with spinal cord injury. Here we explore the SCIO Safe@Home campaign. SCIO will double the impact of your donation to keep people connected to essential lived experience knowledge and support.

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Examples of Ontario virtual codesign during social isolation

virtual codesign, social isolation, OpencityInc, gregiej,

Businesses across the world have responded to the COVID-19 pandemic to pivot the businesses and address virtual codesign. Here we consider four examples from Ontario Health West.

By their nature, startup entrepreneurs are curious, impulsive personalities who can often feel focused and motivated in a crisis. In this post, we examine three startups/scale-ups in Waterloo Region and one in London, Ontario. They are O2 Canada, KA-Imaging, Curiato and 123Genetix.

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New position statement – Preoperative stoma site marking | Case study

Preoperative stoma site marking position statement case study

A joint Canadian position statement between Nurses Specialized in Wound, Ostomy & Continence and colorectal surgeons marks a poignant step. This case study explores the process of this collaboration been nurses and physicians to improve outcomes for patients undergoing ostomy surgery. 

The body of literature is emphatic that preoperative site marking should be mandatory in elective cases. This position statement reinforces the necessity to have NSWOC and surgeons available at all times for emergency case interventions for stoma site marking. This project brought together 20 specialist nurses and surgeons from across Canada. It resulted in a position statement, practice enabler and video. 

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Bringing a health tech incubator to fruition | Waterloo Medtech proceedings

Waterloo Medtech, Waterloo Region, health tech incubator, gregiej, OpencityInc,

There is now an optimism that the once fragmented players in Waterloo Region are beginning to coalesce in support of scaling health tech.

Waterloo Medtech has just launched their latest proceedings report discussed here. The new Medical Innovation Xchange in Kitchener opened in January. Communitech has announced a new Velocity micro VC-fund for the medtech sector. Google is opening an accelerator in the region.  

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The Future of Aging goes far beyond healthcare

The Future of Aging, SE Heath, older person wearing VR goggles

“Aging well is an expensive, important issue–one that goes far beyond healthcare.” The Future of Aging is artistic and balanced in its presentation with poignantly research quotes to complement the text. 

I have no desire to retire. Why can I not be part of a gig economy in my 70s? Those were my immediate reflections on reading Shirlee Sharkey’s eloquent introduction to The Futures of Aging.

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7 worthwhile reads that changed our thinking in 2019

worthwhile reads, changing thinking,

These seven worthy reads changed our thinking in 2019. Find out why they could be a valuable use of your time.

The books cover categories that include curiosity, tech, health, economics, geopolitics and intriguing historical fiction.
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Landmark Medical Innovation Xchange opens

Medical Innovation Xchange, MIX, opening, Waterloo, gregiej

A landmark step to see the pioneering new Medical Innovation Xchange (MIX) open in Waterloo Region.

“There are inherent advantages of Canada’s entrepreneurial environment for medtech start-ups, but unfortunately, resources deplete at a shocking rate when those companies begin to scale,” described Intellijoint Surgical’s Rebecca MacIntyre in introducing the MIX roundtable discussion.

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Tech for Good Declaration revisited

Tech for Good Declaration, Communitech, Rideau Hall Foundation

The Tech for Good Declaration should have been the headline of the True North conference, as it tackled the problematic question of ethics in innovation. 

The Tech of Good declaration formulated by the Canadian Tech Community at the 2018 True North conference affirms tech as a force for good in the world. A year on a special Declaration workshop revisited the original work and continued the conversation. 

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Building a Successful Medtech Infrastructure

Waterloo MedTech conference, Medtech infrastructure, Waterloo

“It’s time we built an integrated medtech incubator in this community, it would solve many of the problems we have heard about,” stated panellist Murray Gamble at the conclusion of the 2018 Waterloo MedTech conference.

Here we preview the 2019 conference on Building a Successful Medtech Infrastructure that tries to mobilize that call to action. We just need the will to make it happen in Waterloo Region. Watch the video interviews below to learn how this could be a worthwhile investment of your time to attend on October 2.

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Charity Spotlight – Reception House

Reception House, Waterloo Region, Charity Spotlight, Opencity Inc

Reception House has helped thousands of refugees settle in Waterloo Region over thirty years.

Here we explore the work of Reception House. They were featured as the charitable partner at the True North 2019 conference. We were pleased to share more about their amazing work.

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